The present invention relates to bread crumbs. In particular, the invention relates to a process and apparatus for the manufacture of bread crumbs and their coating onto a substrate food such as fish or poultry.
The food manufacturing industry produces bread crumbs for coating many food items, for example fish portions, veal and chicken. The conventional broad crumb is small and gritty. The conventional system for manufacturing this type of crumb uses the steps listed below. In the following discussion and description, all percentages are on a by weight basis.
1. Wheat is made into flour. Typically, the extraction rate is of the order of 76-78%. PA1 2. Flour is baked into bread. PA1 3. The bread is made into crumbs, which contain approximately 30% water. PA1 4. The crumbs are dried to reduce the moisture content to approximately 8-12%. PA1 5. The crumbs are begged. PA1 6. The crumbs are stored. PA1 7. The crumbs are transported. PA1 8. The crumbs are stored. PA1 9. The crumbs are transferred to the hopper of an enrobing machine and coated onto a food product. PA1 (a) baking bread from flour which has been aged; PA1 (b) staling bread; and PA1 (c) making crumbs from the bread and, substantially immediately, coating the crumbs onto a substrate food.
Stages 1 to 6 are carried out by a bread crumb manufacturer. Stages 8 and 9 are carried out by the manufacturer of the final product.
For the more sophisticated adult market, there is a need for bigger crumbs that are fresher and have improved qualities, such as texture and taste. To date, it has proved difficult to satisfy this demand, as the use of a fresher bread for creating the crumbs leads to processing problems, for example balling-up of the bread during the crumb producing steps. Furthermore, during transportation and storage, crumbs with a higher moisture content would tend to go mouldy.